Yakuza 5 Localisation Not Planned For Western Markets

The Yakuza games are pretty popular, with worldwide sales for the series reaching approximately 6 million. However it appears Yakuza 5, which released in Japan in 2012, will not be getting a localised version for Western markets due to working on the next Yakuza title, Isshin.

Toshihiro Nagoshi, the Yakuza series creator, spoke to Edge regarding the future of the series and when asked about a Yakuza 5 localisation he said:

“We don’t have a plan for that at the moment. The Yakuza Studio team is a fixed size, and we have to choose between forging ahead with the next game or localising the one that just came out. This time the size of the game was so large, so rather than localising that game we chose to focus our manpower on the new game. But we get asked about it a lot. We get lots of complaints!”

The next game Nagoshi mentions is Yakuza Isshin, set in the later half of the 19th century, which will be a launch title for the Japanese release of the PS4, though the game will also release on PS3. However, whether Isshin will release in Western markets is also unknown as this will rely on sales and the cost of localising the game in comparison to potential sales in the West.

It’s not the first time Sega have decided against releasing a game in the West, with the most recent example being Vita title Phantasy Star Nova.

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